Marseille knife attack: Police investigate suspect’s terror links

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Police are looking into whether attacker had links to terror organizations

The incident is being treated as a terror attack and has been handed over to a special prosecutor in Paris, the prosecutor’s office told CNN.

Military police killed the suspect. Authorities are investigating whether he had links to terror organizations.

He was not carrying any identification, Marseille police said, but French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said during a news conference, “The attacker had several identities.”

Appearing on BFM, Collomb told the station that witnesses heard the attacker shout, “Allahu Akbar” — or, “God is the greatest” — and that the investigation was continuing.

Surveillance footage showed the suspect attack his first victim, run away and come back to stab the second woman, the minister said. The suspect then ran toward soldiers arriving on the scene, Collomb said.

“Again we measure the devotion and the exceptional engagement of our troops. They have my honors,” Collomb said in a tweet.

The Saint-Charles station is the same one where four Americans studying abroad fell victim to acid attacks last month. The Boston College students, three of whom were studying in Paris and one in Copenhagen, were treated for burns and released.

The attacker was a 41-year-old mentally unstable woman, police said. She was arrested and hospitalized, according to CNN affiliate BFM.

There was no reason to believe the acid attacks were terror-related, police said.